Tuesday, January 21, 2014

American Hustle

Oscars 2014 contenders
have been announced, and with The Wolf ofWall Street and American Hustle
scoring five and ten nominations respectively, The Academy sure seems to love a
heist film.But despite enduring
comparisons between the directors (David O’Russell’s work has been perceived
as “Scorsesean” on more than one occasion), the two movies couldn’t be more
different. Whereas WOWS favors outrageous
plot points over character arcs, American
Hustle not only incorporates those arcs, but also makes them its
centerpieces, so much so that the film’s narrative becomes an afterthought.

Con man Irving
Rosenfeld (a pot-bellied and balding Christian Bale) has made a thriving career
of giving out fraudulent loans and selling phony art, along with his
partner/girlfriend Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) who poses as a sexy British
aristocrat in order to lure in unsuspecting victims. When FBI agent Richie
DiMasio (Bradley Cooper) busts their scams, he offers to release them on the
sole condition that they lend him their bamboozling “expertise” on additional undercover
missions, including entrapping New Jersey mayor Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner) in
a bribe scheme and exposing corruption in Congress. But with unexpected budding romances, aspirations gone
awry, and Irving’s borderline-lunatic wife (Jennifer Lawrence) threatening to upend it all, the mission becomes
more complicated than anyone anticipated.

From the very first words that appear on
screen—“Some of this actually happened”—it’s apparent that Hustle isn’t interested in being a historically accurate reproduction
of Abscam. In fact, I’m still at a loss as to why O’Russell would choose the
1970s scandal as the foundation of his narrative, as aside from the constant guessing-game
we play over who’s really conning whom, the details of the sting operations
are—dare I say it?—dreadfully boring. Perhaps in an effort to spice things up a
bit, he and co-writer Eric Warren Stinger throw in elements of dark
comedy, drama, and romance into what is, at the surface, a crime tale. Though
entirely possible for a film to inhabit more than one genre, the yawn-inducing
nature of this plot just isn’t gripping enough to pull off that cocktail of
categories. The leftover effect is a disjointed storyline that comes off as
suffering a bit of an identity crisis.

Instead, the capers, the betrayals, and love triangles all
become purely vehicles to propel what are essentially the characters' emotional journeys. O’Russell himself has spoken at length
about foregoing a more "procedural" script for one that allowed him
to delve deeper into his now-signature cinematic tropes of defeat and reinvention.
If that's the intention, he delivers spectacularly, etching lovably flawed individuals
who are reaching, often by half-witted and hilarious means, for a shot at a
better life. It’s a rare filmmaker who can distract a heist film with multiple
characters studies and get away with it. O’Russell succeeds largely by way of
his deep love and masterful command of his characters, but no less due to the mesmerizing
cast he has assembled to embody them.

It is impossible to
take your eyes off this ensemble, and not just because they’re bedecked in
unabashedly kitschy 70's garb (from Richie’s fierce perm and Sydney’s plunging
necklines to Rosalyn’s oversized furs and Irving’s tinted aviators, hair and
wardrobe must have been the most fun departments to work in on this film.) Christian
Bale disappears into his role as a crook with a conscience, thanks in part to
his unbecoming comb-over and surprisingly spot-on Bronx accent,* but also to
his profound understanding and portrayal of the heart hiding under the layers
of Irving’s crushed velvet suits.

Bradley
Cooper reaches new levels of adorable as an

ambitious, if not slightly
bumbling, law enforcement official who’s desperate to make it big, but constantly
getting in his own way. A small-town beauty
with an alter ego, Amy Adams is raw and vulnerable as Sydney, sly and seductive as Edith Greensley, and absolutely riveting as both. Jennifer Lawrence is the (surprise, surprise) unequivocal
scene-stealer in a role that Irving himself puts best: “the Picasso of
passive-aggressive karate.” Manipulative, high-strung, dangling her son in
front of her husband as bait to keep him committed to their marriage,
Rosalyn is a temperamental grenade and Lawrence rightfully relishes the part. Forget
Hustle’s mediocre plot; you could
film these people sitting in a room watching paint dry, and they’d still set
the screen on fire. Here, as broken dreamers looking for second (or third, or
fourth) chances to find the glory they so intensely desire, their performances
and chemistry lend the story an energy and soul that save it from becoming a
total snooze.

But the film’s
crowning glory isn’t even part of its diegesis. American Hustle’s soundtrack comprises songs that aren’t
necessarily from the story’s decade or even by U.S artists, and yet ooze a
retro aurathat complements—no,
enhances—the era perfectly. From Duke Ellington’s swingy jazz to the hard rock
of the Electric Light Orchestra, the music often takes the place of dialogue in
scenes and becomes a character all its own, with a swagger that the actors
themselves can’t achieve.

For all its
clunky storytelling, there are enough compensating qualities of American Hustle that make it undeniably
alluring. It may not be the best film I’ve seen this year,** but in compelling
the audience to root for the redemption of its ruptured characters, as well as
its own trajectory to the top of award ballots everywhere, it’s a reminder that the American Dream may still be one worth chasing.

*The guy is
Welsh! Welsh! And I only know that
because I just Googled it. All this time I thought he was Australian.
Basically, Christian Bale wins at accents.

**I’m obviously
in the minority with this opinion, considering that this just happened. Right
after this happened.

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About Me

Born and raised in Japan, surrounded by a bounty of anime and manga, I remained loyal to South Asia with my penchant for classical dancing and Bollywood films. My love for cinema evolved into an academic passion, leading me to obtain a BA in Screen Arts and Cultures at the University of Michigan. Now a true, zealous New Yorker, I've dabbled with talent management, non-profit work, casting and film distribution before realizing that one of my true passions is simply to watch, dissect, and write about films. Welcome to Reel Simple.